[Ohio-talk] FW: [Viewpoints] Blind teen keeps on running, thanks to guide dog

Fri Jan 6 12:04:38 UTC 2012

JW and all,
This article made the rounds on the GUide Dogs alumni board a few months 
ago, and we all had some serious concerns about it.  First is that the 
reputable schools typically discourage using a guide dog for running.  My 
own second problem with it is wondering what this kid is teaching people 
about blindness -- or any disability -- if she can't compete just like 
everybody else?  I mean, if everyone else is running to see who is the 
fastest and she's just "pretending" to be part of the fun, what's the point?
Just my two cents.  The again, maybe we could help show her the correct path 
(pun intended).
Deborah

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J.W. Smith" <jwsmithnfb at frontier.com>
To: "'NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List'" <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>; 
"Capital Chapter (Columbus,Ohio) Mailing List" <capchapohio at nfbnet.org>; 
"Aleeha Dudley" <blindcowgirl1993 at gmail.com>; "Anne Marble" 
<annevmarble at yahoo.com>; "Annette Anderson" <afanderson at pobox.com>; 
"Barabara Fohl" <barbfohl at pobox.com>; "Barbara Pierce" <bbpierce at pobox.com>; 
"Becky Booth" <bbooth112 at gmail.com>; "Beth Debus" <mbdebus at yahoo.com>; 
"Carol Akers" <purplecakers at yahoo.com>; "Colleen Roth" <n8tnv at att.net>; 
"Crystal McClain" <mcmcclain at columbus.rr.com>; "Deanna Lewis" 
<deannakay618 at yahoo.com>; "Debra Baker" <lahm at pobox.com>; "Dr. JW Smith" 
<jwsmithnfb at frontier.com>; "Eric Duffy" <eduffy at pobox.com>; "Mary Pool" 
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Vincke" <kwh7047661 at aol.com>; "Susan Day" <sday24 at roadrunner.com>; "Wanda 
Sloan" <wsloan4 at roadrunner.com>; "William Turner" <william.h.turner at ssa.gov>
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 7:24 PM
Subject: [Ohio-talk] FW: [Viewpoints] Blind teen keeps on running,thanks to 
guide dog

> Here is an interesting story so read on?
>
> Jw
>
>
> Dr. J. Webster Smith
> President, National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
> PO Box 458 Athens, OH 45701
> 740-592-6326
>
> "Changing what it means to be blind"
> For more information go to nfbohio.org
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mary Ellen [mailto:gabias at telus.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2012 7:21 PM
> To: jwsmithnfb at frontier.com
> Subject: FW: [Viewpoints] Blind teen keeps on running, thanks to guide dog
>
> Hi,
>
> I thought you'd be interested in this article about an Ohio teen.  She may
> be interested in applying for a scholarship.  I'd be willing to bet quite 
> a
> lot that she knows little or nothing about the NFB or about blindness. 
> Good
> luck.
>
> Mary Ellen
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: viewpoints-bounces at lists.screenreview.org
> [mailto:viewpoints-bounces at lists.screenreview.org] On Behalf Of Gaston
> Bedard
> Sent: January 3, 2012 6:47 PM
> To: AEBC members list; viewpoints at lists.screenreview.org
> Subject: [Viewpoints] Blind teen keeps on running, thanks to guide dog
>
>
> Blind teen keeps on running, thanks to guide dog
>
> Sami Stoner, who is legally blind, logs mile after cross-country mile with
> dog Chloe at her side
>
> Sami Stoner runs with her guide dog, Chloe. Stoner, who is legally blind, 
> is
> believed to be the first high school athlete in Ohio to compete with an
> animal.
>
> By Lisa A. Flam, TODAY.com contributor
> October 27, 2011
>
> Sami Stoner is running proof that adversity doesn't have to keep you from
> the finish line.
>
> A legally blind 16-year-old runner, Sami is traversing cross-country 
> courses
> this season with her new guide dog, Chloe, and is believed to be the first
> high school athlete in her home state of Ohio to compete with an animal.
>
> "I don't run for time or place or anything, I just run because I love it,
> and I'm glad I can share my love of running with Chloe now," says Sami, a
> junior at Lexington High School who's on the junior varsity cross country
> team. "I love having Chloe. She's helped me so much."
>
> Now in her fourth year running cross country, Sami won a waiver from the
> state high school athletic association that allows her to compete with a
> dog.
>
> The golden retriever puppy, who guides Sami through the crowded hallways 
> at
> school, also takes her safely through the running trails of Ohio.
>
> She watches out for roots and she tries to pick the clearest path for me,"
> Sami says cheerfully. "The ways she moves, I can feel it in her harness, 
> so
> she has little ways to signal which way to go and what to do."
>
> At the starting line, Sami and Chloe stay back 20 to 30 seconds so Chloe
> doesn't get spiked by another runner, but they're usually passing other
> competitors by the first mile on the 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) course. Sami 
> is
> ineligible to score, and she must avoid finish-line chutes if they're 
> deemed
> too narrow, said Dale Gabor, the director of cross country and track and
> field for the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
>
> "She gives a lot of hope to other kids," said Gabor, who approved Sami's
> waiver and believes she's the first scholastic athlete in Ohio to compete
> with an animal.
>
> Running with just some peripheral vision is scary, Sami says. But Chloe is
> highly focused, which has helped Sami feel secure enough to improve her
> personal record to 29:53.
>
> "There is still a little element of being terrified you're going to fall
> flat on your face," Sami says. "She's given me a lot more confidence in my
> running."
>
> Her dad, too, is wary when Sami, the youngest of his three girls, starts a
> race.
>
> "It's an amazing, scary thing to see her take off and all you can do it 
> pray
> that everybody comes back safely.
> This is my baby," says Keith Stoner. "She's not necessarily up there
> collecting a medal at end of the race, but in our heart she does win them
> all."
>
> Sami began running cross-country in eighth grade, and by the end of that
> school year, her vision deteriorated and she became legally blind. She was
> found to have the untreatable Stargardt disease, which is similar to
> sight-robbing macular degeneration that affects older adults.
>
> In high school, she worried she wouldn't be able to compete, but teamed up
> with a friend, Hannah Ticoras, who ran alongside her as a guide.
>
> "All I wanted to do was run, and running with Hannah gave me that
> opportunity," says Sami.
>
> But Hannah graduated at the end of Sami's sophomore year, again putting
> Sami's competitive future in limbo. Her mobility teacher thought she'd be 
> a
> good candidate for a guide dog, and after a month of training over the
> summer, the Stoner family welcomed Chloe home in August.
>
> Sami is grateful she's still a part of the team she loves so dearly.
>
> "I just hope people learn that just because you have a disability or some
> kind of disadvantage that it's not the end of the world," says Sami, who 
> has
> a 4.0 grade point average this year. "You can still do stuff, you just 
> have
> to find a way of doing it."
>
> Lisa A. Flam is a news and lifestyles reporter based in New York.
>
> 2012 MSNBC Interactive.
>
> From:
> http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45034031/ns/today-today_health/t/blind-teen-ke
> eps-running-thanks-guide-dog/
>
>
>
>
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